Cost of living comparison

compared to

El Salvador vs. Sao Tome and Principe Cost of Living Summary

El Salvador is 70.4% more expensive than Sao Tome and Principe overall.

Restaurants: pay 51.5% less in El Salvador
Groceries: pay 12.5% less in El Salvador
Transportation: pay 41.4% less in El Salvador
Housing: pay 54.4% more in El Salvador
Entertainment and Sports: pay 3.5% more in El Salvador
Clothing: pay 5.7 times more in El Salvador

The cost of clothing, housing, and entertainment and sports in El Salvador are more expensive than in Sao Tome and Principe. Expenses including restaurants, transportation, and groceries are lower in El Salvador. Notably, clothing is significantly more expensive in El Salvador.

El Salvador vs. Sao Tome and Principe Cost Breakdown

If you lived in El Salvador instead of Sao Tome and Principe, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 51.5% less for restaurants

	Sao Tome and Principe	El Salvador
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$29.20 STD650,623	$5.50 SVC47.99	-81.2%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.68 STD260,249	$6.33 SVC55.23	-45.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.92 STD42,768	$0.99 SVC8.64	-48.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.17 STD26,025	$0.81 SVC7.05	-30.8%
Average			-51.5%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. El Salvador - Cost of restaurants

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pay 12.5% less for groceries

	Sao Tome and Principe	El Salvador
Bread 1 loaf	$1.08 STD24,088	$1.95 SVC17.01	+80.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$10.22 STD227,718	$3.77 SVC32.86	-63.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.97 STD132,995	$6.72 SVC58.61	+12.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$5.09 STD113,503	$2.78 SVC24.25	-45.4%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$9.27 STD206,583	$2.82 SVC24.64	-69.5%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.12 STD47,219	$1.67 SVC14.60	-21.1%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.53 STD11,805	$0.76 SVC6.60	+42.8%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.85 STD41,316	$1.17 SVC10.17	-37.2%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.59 STD35,414	$1.22 SVC10.61	-23.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.19 STD26,561	$0.97 SVC8.44	-18.8%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.93 STD20,658	$0.98 SVC8.51	+5.2%
Average			-12.5%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. El Salvador - Cost of groceries

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pay 41.4% less for transportation

	Sao Tome and Principe	El Salvador
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.40 STD142,518	$3.75 SVC32.69	-41.4%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$15.00 SVC130.88
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	??	$24,666.67 SVC215,223.23
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	??	$29.78 SVC259.88
Average			-41.4%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. El Salvador - Cost of transportation

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pay 54.4% more for housing

	Sao Tome and Principe	El Salvador
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$72.42 STD1,613,544	$41.89 SVC365.49	-42.2%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$350.40 STD7,807,473	$666.67 SVC5,816.84	+90.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$233.60 STD5,204,982	$502.78 SVC4,386.87	+115.2%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	??	$64.97 SVC566.86
Average			+54.4%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. El Salvador - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

	Sao Tome and Principe	El Salvador
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	??	$162.67 SVC1,419.31
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$6,420.00 SVC56,016.21

Sao Tome and Principe vs. El Salvador - Cost of childcare

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pay 3.5% more for entertainment and sports

	Sao Tome and Principe	El Salvador
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.67 STD37,216	$2.00 SVC17.45	+19.7%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.34 STD52,050	$2.83 SVC24.69	+21.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.34 STD52,050	$4.00 SVC34.90	+71.2%
Monthly membership at local gym	$37.38 STD832,797	$30.27 SVC264.08	-19.0%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$21.02 STD468,448	$5.17 SVC45.08	-75.4%
Average			+3.5%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. El Salvador - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 5.7 times more for clothing

	Sao Tome and Principe	El Salvador
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$62.60 SVC546.20
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$45.83 SVC399.91
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$131.80 SVC1,149.99
Men's business shoes (leather)	$19.16 STD426,809	$109.17 SVC952.51	+469.9%
Average			+469.9%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. El Salvador - Cost of clothing

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: December 2025

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